Four
by TapesAndRecords
Summary: Four times Tony's ahead of her: Tea, Camera, Painkillers, Thanks. Just a little fluff. Mainly Tiva friendship, but you could view it as romance too.


**Hello everyone.  
><strong>**So I've collected the results for ****What if we'd met someplace else?**** and I'm currently mapping out how to continue the top three…**

**In the meantime, I created this. (:**

**Disclaimer: You know you're obsessed with NCIS when you make your parents take you to Paris even though Jetlag hasn't aired yet, and spend the whole week looking for Tony and Ziva. (yes, really).**

**Listening to: Please, please, please let me get what I want, by The Smiths.**

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><p><span>One:<span>

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><p>She walks into work, her bag over her shoulder and a tune in her head, in a rather bright mood.<br>So much so, she's smiling when the Elevator doors drag open and she walks to her desk.

Her desk, on which sits a fresh cup of tea.

"What is this?" she asks the bullpen, surprised when only McGee is there to answer.

"Uh, tea?"

She smiles sympathetically at him and sits, taking the lid off the beverage to give it a tentative sniff.  
>It's warm and sweet and creamy. And perfect.<p>

"I know that, McGee, I was wondering why it's on my desk."

"It was there when I got here, but that was, like, three minutes ago."

She raises her eyebrow at that, and McGee responds with 'traffic'.

Taking a sip of the gorgeous drink, she feels the warmth spread through her, and looks to Tony's desk.  
>His computer's on.<br>There's a file spread open.  
>His backpack is on the shelf behind.<p>

He's here.

Something stirs inside her, but she dismisses it and wonders where the hell her partner is.

He strolls in ten minutes after her arrival, a cup of coffee in his hand and his phone in the other. Glaring at him, she spares him only a moment before returning to her paperwork.  
>He seems decidedly more important.<p>

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><p><span>Two:<span>

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><p>She grimaces at the sight of the noose hanging from the ceiling before wondering why you'd shoot someone who was suicidal already. She grimaces yet again when she remembers she left her camera in the car, two blocks away.<p>

They stumbled upon this place after ransacking their victim's apartment, and walked to it, not intending to find anything.  
>The satanic carvings and various suicide instruments certainly seem to be more than 'anything'.<p>

Sighing both from her irritation and the sheer atmosphere this place has, she shouts for McGee, who's downstairs, whilst rummaging through her bag for some gloves.

"What is it, Ziva?" Tim calls, and she's about to ask for his camera when her hand closes around a leather strap and she quietens.

"Never mind." she waves off, pulling out the _Nikon_and flicking through the pictures in the memory.

She didn't take these.

Tony did.

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><p><span>Three:<span>

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><p>The tylenol- the <em>final<em>tylenol in her possession- are effective at quashing her pounding headache, but the run-down feeling still remains.

Even as she slaps the handcuffs on their guy, the adrenaline rush does nothing to aid how she feels, and she makes a beeline for the elevator as soon as she's finished her paperwork.

Driving home, the pulsing in her temples makes an unwelcome return, and she bypasses a stop at the drugstore in favor of snuggling up in bed with hot water bottles and menthol drinks and lots and lots of pillows.

Stumbling through the door, she dumps her bags and puts the kettle on, rubbing her forehead whilst waiting, then opting to find some more painkillers.  
>Her search is in vain, however, as she only discovers a year-old bottle of cough syrup and a crushed band-aid.<p>

She empties the contents of her bag after misplacing her cellphone, cursing how the pens roll off the table and onto her carpet with a muted clatter.  
>And there, amongst tissues and paper and gum, is a brand new strip of Tylenol.<p>

She doesn't know how it got there, and frankly she doesn't care, just swallows some and trudges to bed.  
>But they're not hers.<p>

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><p><span>Four:<span>

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><p>As she wakes up, she pieces the facts together.<p>

_Tony_ with his coffee, just as she herself has a mysterious cup of tea.  
><em>Tony<em> with his camera in her bag, just as she leaves hers at the main crime scene.  
><em>Tony<em>with his secret look as she walks out, empty of painkillers.

_Tony._

She leaves the elevator smiling once more, her illnesses no longer present, and greets the team as she sits at her desk.

Looking up five minutes later, she finds Tony looking at her with an expectant smile.  
>"Thank you." she tells him in a quiet voice, just loud enough for only him to hear.<p>

Then, he nods, and she looks down to see a piece of paper sticking out from behind a manila folder.

_You're welcome.  
>-T<em>

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><p><strong>Press the button! ;) <strong>


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